Memories of Things To Be
by Rikkudo
Summary: There's nothing more disorienting than knowing things that haven't happened yet . . . by REMEMBERING them. In which Kakashi thinks he's going insane.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I'd rather not own Naruto. Naruto/Sakura versus Naruto/Hinata. Do YOU wanna get caught in the middle of that shipping war?

**Author's Note: **_This is a PLOT BUNNY, not a story. Keep that in mind. Now let's see how this goes. ^^_

* * *

**Memories of Things To Be**

Chapter 1

_"Obito, you . . ."_

_The man interrupted Kakashi with a snarl. "You killed Rin!"_

_Kakashi did nothing to hide his naked shock, his eyes widening and his mouth falling open. The battle was now at a standstill, completely frozen with the revelation of the man in the mask._

_Uchiha Obito._

_The man laughed, his scars rippling across his features. "What? Nothing to say now? You're not going to—"_

**BEEP.**

_Obito's mouth was moving, his lips twisted in utter fury, but no sound was coming out._

___Kakashi frowned. _"Obito, I can't hea—"

**BEEP.**

_His world shook as the sound grew louder and louder, and around him, Obito, Naruto, Gai, and Bee all looked like they were screaming at each other, but Kakashi couldn't hear any of them._

**BEEP.**

_His eardrums felt like they were about to burst, and—_

**BEEP.**

_His mind was turning to mush._

**BEE—**

Kakashi's fist crushed the alarm clock on his dressing table. He stared at the broken husk of the machine, watching as it sputtered with sparks before finally dying.

He sighed. That was the fifth one this week. He collapsed back onto his bed, drenched in a cold sweat.

Why was he dreaming about something so ridiculous? After all, Obito was just a moron who made it a point to be late to everything. There was no way he could—

His thought's trailed off as his head rushed to meet the pillow in a glorious embrace. He was asleep in seconds.

* * *

"You're late again, moron." Always were late, always are late, and always will be late.

Obito adjusted his orange goggles angrily, as if in preparation for an impending fight. "Shut up, you jerk! I had to help old man Yatsuko with his garbage! And then Mitsui-san's cat got stuck in a tree, so I—"

"A _real_ shinobi should _never_ be late. It's one of our rules. Those who break the rules are nothing but scum."

Obito turned red, and just as he was about to utter a scathing retort, Kakashi heard something else.

_Those that break the rules are trash—_

The voice sounded strangely familiar, seeming to come from nowhere, but it was interrupted by Minato-sensei's efforts in peacekeeping.

"Now, now, don't fight, boys. We have a long day ahead of us." He smiled that bright smile of his, and the anger in the air seemed to dissipate.

Kakashi shook off the disorientation of apparently having been the only one to have heard the disembodied voice and glared suspiciously at his smiling sensei.

Obito was far less cautious. "Whoo! Are we gonna go do something totally awesome?"

_Half an hour later:_

"This sucks! We're cleaning out _latrines?!_"

"Maybe we'd have gotten a better mission if you weren't so late."

Obito was just about to reply with an angry and heartfelt_ 'Screw you, asshole!'_ when the lovely Rin added in her own two cents. "As much as I hate to say it, Kakashi-kun is right, Obito. We'd get much better options for our missions if you arrived just a little earlier."

She couldn't help it. Even _she_ was ticked off about having to clean thirty latrines in the outskirts of Konoha for the construction workers to use.

The Uchiha boy blushed a bright red and went silent. He didn't speak again for the rest of the mission, too shamed to so much as make a sound.

* * *

Kakashi stared at the memorial stone, his black eyes tracing over the smooth surface with held the names of Konoha's fallen. Pale moonlight drifted through the air, giving everything a ghostly appearance.

Unnoticed by him, his hand began tugging at his headband in an almost reflexive motion until it had entirely covered his left eye.

_'Why . . . am I here?'_

Kakashi glared, hands raking through his hair, and his gaze found his father's name, one inscribed alongside thousands of thousands of shinobi who had died in service of Konoha. The coward who had once been his father, the former hero who had chosen to abandon him and die after sabotaging a vital mission.

Hatake Sakumo.

That he saved his comrades did not matter. The mission always comes first, and his _father_ had blatantly disregarded that fact.

Kakashi sneered. _'You don't _deserve_ to be on this stone,'_ he thought.

A splitting headache immediately ambushed him, eliciting a cry of pain.

_Those who break the rules are trash—_

He was rolling on the grass now, his hands clutching at his head. It was like someone was driving screws through his skill from the inside. And whacking them for good measure. Kakashi couldn't help it. He screamed.

* * *

He woke to white linen sheets and the scent of bleach.

Obito and Rin were asleep at the foot of his bed, but Minato-sensei was nowhere to be seen.

Kakashi stared with a strange sense of . . . longing. Was this what it was like to have a family?

He immediately quashed the sensation. It would bring weakness, he was sure.

His checking out of the hospital went relatively smoothly, even if Obito made himself a nuisance by calling Kakashi a wimp for passing out while not even doing anything hard.

Kakashi punched him.

Obito immediately returned the favor, or at he least tried.

Minato-sensei didn't return for another five minutes, as he had gone off to check in with his new wife, and poor Rin had no idea what to do.

When Minato returned, he found the results of a VERY one-sided battle.

He couldn't help but sigh.

* * *

Kakashi found himself at the memorial stone again, fingers tracing over the carved names like sacred words that had to be memorized. And oddly, they also traced over blank portions of the stone.

He felt an odd sense of apprehension.

Kakashi frowned. Why was he out here again? Did he really have nothing to do other than sit here and trace the names of dead men and women?

This was such an ineffective, _irresponsible_ way to waste his t—

_—but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. I believe that your father was a hero, Kakashi._

"Obito . . ." The shadow of a whisper.

Kakashi's eyes bulged, and he turned away to regurgitate his lunch. Unfortunately, it was in the koi pond. Strangely enough, the fish liked the additional meal.

The silver-haired teen watched as his reflection rippled with fish after fish, most simply seeking a bit of food, although there were a few curious ones that simply wanted to see this strange creature which had invaded their home.

He sat like that for several minutes.

When he looked up, a single eye glowed red.

* * *

It was a man's voice, raspy and broken, as though he'd spent the last year screaming. Kakashi always ignored it. Thank God that his eye went back to normal, though. He didn't know how he'd have explained that.

He didn't so much as look up when Obito came to a sweaty, panting halt. "Sorry—" He wheezed. "—I'm late."

_Obito . . . You . . . _

An inexplicable sense of hostility washed over him, and his hands inched towards his kunai pouch of their own accord. Kakashi snapped back to reality at the sound Minato-sensei's bright and sunny voice.

"Now that Obito's arrived, we can get started!"

Calloused hands drew back in shock. Kakashi tried not to think about the fact that he had been about to murder a comrade for no real reason.

Obito, expecting the usual reprimand from his teammate, noticed the strangely distant look on Kakashi's face. He frowned. "Oi, jerk-face! Stop spacing out!"

The silver-haired chūnin looked at the Uchiha with nothing but disdain. "How ironic. The boy who's always late trying to reprimand me."

Obito turned red. "Shut up, asshole!"

Minato and Rin sighed. Some things were never meant to change.

* * *

That was the first of many incidents. Kakashi swore he was going crazy when he woke up in the local bookstore in the dead of the night, leaning against one of the tome-packed walls.

He nearly panicked when he saw what he was holding.

It had an orange cover. On it, a man was chasing a woman (who didn't seem scared at all).

And the title.

Come, Come, Paradise.

His eyes widened in shock.

It was the infamous adult novel series that Jiraiya-sama had published.

And strangely, Kakashi found himself eagerly opening it, thumbing through the pages like a man possessed.

It was just his luck that Jiraiya-sama and Minato-sensei walked in right at that moment.

"I still don't see why I have to come with you. I mean, it's not like _I _read the porn. Kushina would _kill _me."

"Come on, Minato. Don't be like that. This is the start of a new volume in my Icha Icha franchise! I want to buy you your own copy—"

"I'll never read it."

"—author signed—"

"Still wont read it."

"—and then we can go out for some booze. I swear, you're such a prude," Jiraiya groused.

"I'm also faithful to my wife, sensei."

"But it's just a _book!_"

Kakashi froze. Slowly, he looked down at the _thing_ in his hands.

He didn't have any time to think. The footsteps were getting louder, and they'd be in the literary porn section in _seconds._

_Ah, well. The earlier they know, the better I suppose._

Kakashi had thought he was going crazy for several weeks now, but this was the first time he'd hated that voice.

_'Burn in Hell!'_

_Hey, don't you think that's a tad bit too harsh?_

Kakashi wasn't paying attention at that point. He vaulted over a shelf into the _real _porn section and hid, praying that his sensei wouldn't be dirty enough to come there.

_Ooh. Such a great selection . . ._

Kakashi fought the urge to vomit.

* * *

For the first time in his life, Kakashi was late. How late? _Really_ late. _Three hours_ late.

Naturally, Obito pounced on the opportunity.

"You're late!" he shouted indignantly.

_Well, I was helping an old lady pick up her groceries and carry them home for her, but then a black cat crossed our path. So we had to take the long way around._

"LIAR!"

_Ah, my cute little genin._

"I'M NOT A GENIN ANYMORE, YOU RETARD!" Obito paused to take a breath, then tacked on, "AND I'M NOT _YOUR_ GENIN, EITHER!"

Kakashi blinked, disoriented. Had he said that out loud?

Suddenly, he broke into a cold sweat. Off to the side, Minato-sensei frowned. "Kakashi, are you alright? You don't look too good."

A moment of silence, and Minato-sensei traded glances of confusion with Obito and Rin.

He was about to say something when, to everyone's surprise, the teenager merely grinned (or appeared to by the way his eyes were curving). "Mah, mah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Even Obito looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

Familiar instincts flared at long last.

Kakashi frowned thoughtfully, then said, "Shut up, Obito."

"What?! I didn't even say anything!"

That was the day Kakashi decided that he had to do something to get rid of whatever was wrong with him.

After the mission, he wandered and wandered until it hit him. He had the perfect way to fix himself.

Yamanaka Inoichi was quite perplexed when the son of Sakumo dropped into his shop unannounced.

"I need help," he said. Inoichi raised his eyebrows at the young chūnin.

Kakashi nodded, then proceeded to walk in, ignoring the obvious 'closed' sign on the door. "I'm also willing to pay." He gingerly set down a thick wad of bills onto the counter of the store.

The Yamanaka stared silently, then looked over to Kakashi. "Kakashi, what's this about." It wasn't a question so much as it was a deadpan.

The teenager opened his mouth, hesitated, then stiffened. "It's nothing," he said.

Then he turned and walked out the door, not even bothering to take back his money.

Outside the shop, Kakashi clutched at his head.

_You really shouldn't have done that._

The words knifed through his ears.

_This makes it so much harder for us._

Turning his mind to mush.

_I'll have to go back and fix this._

"Urg!"

The pain vanished, and Kakashi allowed his arms to fall to his sides.

One eye glowed red.

Expression blank, he walked back into Inoichi's shop and shut the door behind himself.

The T&I department head was curiously ill for the next three days. When he recovered, he realized that his memories of the entire past week were gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **_Short chapter, I'm sorry, but I have been going insane with cleaning my house. Just about every single one of my relatives is coming over. Sigh. Free time, I miss thee._

* * *

**Memories of Things To Be**

Chapter 2

Kakashi was tired, and his head was starting to throb, but he had no choice.

None at all.

He had to stay awake.

_You should sleep._

"Shut up."

_I'm not trying to hurt you, you know. That would be extremely counterproductive on my part._

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

_Seriously, though. Three days and not one wink of sleep. That really isn't healthy._

His eyes went flat. He snatched a kunai out of his pouch and positioned it over his eye: the one that always turned red. "Shut up, or I'll dig you right out of my head."

To say that Kakashi had 'lost it' in that moment would be a rather accurate description. The voice went silent. Kakashi remained like that for a moment, blade positioned over one unblinking eye. When he heard no response at long last, he relaxed.

He slumped back against the wall of a room so sparsely decorated that one would wonder if anyone even lived there.

His bed was tucked into the corner far away from the window, a night stand next to it with a lamp, and a small drawer for clothes. The curtains that shaded the windows were the same blank grey as the walls, and the floor was covered in a fuzzy tan carpet that promised to stain at the smallest opportunity.

Kakashi inhaled from his place atop the bed, back braced by a pillow and legs covered with his blanket, and the faint tang of rust coated his tongue. He stared unblinkingly at the ceiling, swallowing over and over again to see if it would go away, but it didn't.

Grimacing, he rolled off the bed and landed soundlessly on the carpeted floor, then made way for the bathroom to wash out his mouth.

When a ninja walks, it is silent, graceful, and effortless, every step poised for action. Kakashi was none of those things because he was dead tired. He stumbled into his bathroom with the finesse of a drunkard, staggering this way and that as the strength in his legs threatened to abandon him. He managed to catch hold of the wall before he could fall to the floor. For a moment he stood there, panting. How long had it been since he'd been on sick leave? Two days? Three? When was the last time he'd eaten? He couldn't remember.

With a grunt of effort, he took the last few staggered steps into the bathroom and barely managed to switch on the light. He didn't bother looking at himself in the mirror, instead simply opening the tap and rinsing his mouth of the rusty taste. The cold felt nice, woke him up. It distracted him from the throbbing in his head, calmed him down a bit. Kakashi lowered his head into the sink, letting the water cascade over his head, and he allowed himself to relax for the first time in days.

Sighing, he realized he needed to eat something. It wasn't that he was forcing himself not to, he just forgot. The hunger pangs had a habit of disappearing when he actually _needed_ to eat. He pulled his head out from under the sink, closing his eyes for a moment as the water dripped down his hair.

He closed the tap, groped blindly behind himself for a towel, and dried his head. Even after days spent awake (an idea that was looking dumber and dumber by the second), he was feeling a little refreshed after this. Cleaner, too. He rubbed his hair furiously, doing his best to collect all moisture, before he peeked at himself in the mirror.

Kakashi froze.

So did the man in the mirror.

That man in the mirror was _not_ Kakashi.

They both held towels, they both were in the same bathroom, and they both had silver hair, but that was where the similarities ended. For one thing, the man in the mirror was older, in his early forties at least. Next was the hair. While it was the same color, Kakashi's hair sort of went in every direction. The man's hair went _up, _like it was mocking the laws of physics or something.

While Kakashi wore blue pajamas, the man in the mirror was dressed for war, the armored vest of Konoha strapped over clothes designed for mobility, his arms and legs carrying multiple pouches meant for kunai and shuriken.

Most important of all, though, Kakashi's eyes were both midnight-black. With the man, only one was such a color. The other eye swirled red.

A terrible rage built up inside of Kakashi. "_You_," he hissed. "Get out of my head."

He was half-expecting the man to copy his every motion from inside the mirror, just to mock him. That wasn't what happened, though. Instead, the man dried himself off with his towel and hung it on the rack behind him. Kakashi glanced down at the towel in his own hands, making sure it was still there.

_"So, Kakashi-kun, you and I can finally speak face-to-face." _It was the same, raspy voice that had been tormenting him for so long.

Kakashi looked around, disoriented. The man's lips were moving, but his voice wasn't coming from the mirror: it was in his head. With that realization, he went on guard, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

The man raised an eyebrow from the other side of the mirror, looking distinctively unimpressed. _"Are you really going to fight me with a wet towel?"_

The teenager looked down at the object in question and glared. "If I have to," he said, tersely.

The man shook his head in exasperation. _"Just what is it going to take to convince you that I'm not your enemy?"_

Kakashi rose a brow. "Are you serious?" he asked. The man in the mirror froze, seeming to realize that all was not going quite as he'd planned. "Are you _serious?!_" Kakashi said again, although this time with far more aggression. "I wouldn't care if you really _were_ an ally! You invaded my head! You took control of my body! If I could kill you right now, I would do it without hesitation."

The man stared for a moment, seemingly unperturbed by the younger man's declaration. Then he sighed, running his hands through his hair. _"Naruto, this is so much harder than you said it would be," _he growled under his breath. Then turning back to Kakashi, he said, _"Regardless of what you think, I'm on your side. Just let me help you."__  
_

He tried to say more, but Kakashi cut him off with a harsh bark of laughter. "Help me? _Help me?_ You really think that what you're doing is _helping_ me?"

The man narrowed his eyes. _"Fine. If you won't trust me, then at least use your head. Who do I _look_ like, Kakashi?"_

Kakashi growled. He knew the obvious answer, but he wasn't going to give this man the satisfaction of hearing it said out loud since, so far as he could tell, the man wasn't a mind-reader.

The older man shook his head again and turned around with a sigh, and the red swirl on the back of Konoha's chūnin and jōnin vests dominated the mirror. _"Soon you'll be forced to change, Kakashi. Just be sure not to resist too hard."_

_Death. So much death. It seemed that everyone he grew to love inevitably walked into their own graves. The boy crushed by the boulder, the girl impaled with a lightning blade, and the teacher who sold his soul to the Reaper. _

Kakashi's eyes turned to slits. Then he wrapped his fist with the towel and shattered the mirror.

* * *

Minato frowned as he watched his students. Kakashi had been acting strange for several weeks, but this was just too much.

He was in a staring contest with Obito.

A staring contest _he_ started.

That was just not normal. Even Rin was staring at him, gaping like a fish.

Minato decided then and there that something was wrong with his student, and that he was going to fix it.

To say that his students were taken by surprise when he dismissed them mid-mission and Hiraishin'd away with Kakashi would be to say that the ocean was wet.

Minato had been using his technique for several years now, and he'd more or less mastered it to the point that he didn't get nauseous. Kakashi? Not so much. The poor chūnin emptied his stomach into a nearby bush.

Blue eyes narrowed.

"We have a lot to talk about, Kakashi-kun."


End file.
